Net Zero Finance: How financial firms can set science-based climate targets

BusinessGreen staff
clock • 1 min read

VIDEO: SBTi's Nate Aden and Schroders' Stephanie Chang chat to BusinessGreen's James Murray about how financial sector should go about setting stringent financed emissions goals

Companies right across the financial sector - from banks, investors, financial institutions and pension funds - are facing growing scrutiny over the carbon impact of not just their core business, but their entire value chains of investments, financial support and loan books.

Increasingly, financial firms are therefore under pressure to firstly measure and disclose their emissions footprint, and then to use that information to set credible targets to decarbonise their financial portfolios via independent certification schemes, such as the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which has recently launched a new net zero target standard.

Yet while deeply urgent and necessary to drive down emissions from financial portfolios over the next decade and beyond, doing so is an immensely challenging and complex process, and most of the sector is only at the beginning of the journey, if indeed it has even started.

At BusinessGreen's recent Net Zero Finance summit, which took place online in March 2022, Nate Aden, senior associate at the SBTi, and Schroders' head of ESG integration Stephanie Chang both spoke to BG editor in chief James Murry about how companies can and should start on their science-based climate target journey.

Their fascinating and resourceful conversation can be watched back in full again above.

All of the sessions from the Net Zero Finance Summit. which took place virtually in March 2022, are available to watch back on demand for delegates signed up to on demand. More details are available on the event website.

Schroders and the Science-Based Targets initiative are partners of the Net Zero Finance summit.

More on Investment

Powering up Britain's battery future: Why the UK must act now on batteries

Powering up Britain's battery future: Why the UK must act now on batteries

Battery storage is critical to the UK's energy and industrial security, write National Wealth Fund CEO Oliver Holbourn and Yasmine Moezinia from the Clean Technology Partnerships Initiative (CTPI)

Oliver Holbourn, National Wealth Fund, and Yasmine Moezinia, CTPI
clock 01 July 2026 • 4 min read
Pensions professionals warn climate change now 'present-day financial reality' for sector

Pensions professionals warn climate change now 'present-day financial reality' for sector

Report by the Society of Pension Professionals (SPP) warns climate change is a 'systemic' issue and 'no longer a future risk' to retirement savings

Martin Richmond
clock 30 June 2026 • 2 min read
Aberdeen partners with Future Group to invest in global sustainable infrastructure

Aberdeen partners with Future Group to invest in global sustainable infrastructure

Deal aims to ramp up investment in decarbonisation, sustainable housing, and cleaner transport networks

Jack Roach, Investment Week
clock 29 June 2026 • 1 min read